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Manage Multiple ChronoSync Documents

If you have multiple ChronoSync documents and need to run your syncs or backups manually, you may find it taxing to open each ChronoSync document and execute it manually. There are two easy methods to simplify managing multiple ChronoSync documents.

You can add the ChronoSync documents to a Container document. A Container holds multiple ChronoSync documents and enables you to control several ChronoSync documents as if they were one document.

You can make use of the Scheduled Documents Manager window to collect and organize commonly used ChronoSync documents without scheduling them.

Both methods allow you to schedule or manually run your syncs and backups.

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Google has agreed to a deal with AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon that will make Google Wallet more competitive with Apple Pay. All three carriers will pre-install the Google Wallet app on Android phones, and Google will gain intellectual property from the carrier-owned payment service Softcard. Google beat Apple to mobile payments by several years, but in many cases, the carriers prevented Google Wallet from accessing the necessary NFC chip in Android phones.

Bad news if you use Dropbox to sync with ancient Macs: Dropbox will no longer support Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard as of 18 May 2015. Users will still be able to use the Dropbox Web interface, but the Dropbox app (and thus Finder integration) will no longer work.

You may have heard of the system maintenance utility MacKeeper, which claims to keep your Mac running smoothly. According to iMore’s Peter Cohen, who also works at an independent Apple reseller, MacKeeper is best avoided. Cohen calls out the company’s shady marketing tactics, the instability it can introduce to Macs, and how difficult it is to uninstall.

Last year, online backup service Backblaze released its internal data on hard drive reliability. The company has now updated its findings with some surprising results. In their new tests, 3 TB drives, especially those from Seagate, were dramatically less reliable than other capacities. The most reliable drives for the price were 4 TB drives from Seagate.

Adam Engst joined the regulars on MacBreak Weekly — Leo Laporte, Andy Ihnatko, and Rene Ritchie — to analyze the latest news and gadgets to come out of CES, ponder the future of HomeKit and home automation in general, look into what’s involved with the Thunderstrike attack, and go back and forth on what sizes of iPhones Apple should make. Highly recommended.

On The Tech Night Owl Live, Adam Engst joined host Gene Steinberg to share notes on the iMac with 5K Retina display, talk about why Apple makes it so hard to upgrade Mac hardware, and discuss the drop in Apple’s software quality.

Dennis Publishing has announced that it’s ceasing publication of MacUser in the UK after almost 30 years. The company cited “challenging market conditions,” although it continues to publish numerous other print magazines. Dennis Publishing will soon be contacting subscribers regarding their subscriptions.

It’s easy to go overboard when rendering fantastic Mac designs, but the German publication Curved has taken another tack with an imagined iMac design that draws its inspiration from the original Macintosh. The pictures show off a compact Mac that’s sleek, curvy, and gorgeous — the only downside is that it isn’t real.

British Prime Minister David Cameron, who is seeking reelection, wants encrypted messaging services to give British intelligence access to online conversations. In the name of preventing terrorism, Cameron is proposing banning services like iMessage, WhatsApp, and Snapchat unless they comply. “Are we going to allow a means of communications which it simply isn’t possible to read? My answer to that question is: ‘No, we must not,’” Cameron said. For those wondering, Cameron’s proposed back door requirement does not appear to contradict the European Union directive on privacy and electronic communications, which “does not affect the ability of Member States to carry out lawful interception of electronic communications.”

Bank holding company Capital One has acquired the Level Money budgeting app. The existing team will remain with Level Money, which will still be a standalone app. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but Level Money stated that it has 700,000 users and has helped manage over $12 billion in transactions.

Smartphones have obsoleted an entire galaxy of gadgets, including cameras, music players, and handheld game consoles. What are gadget makers to do? As Farhad Manjoo explains in the New York Times, the answer lies in software. Specifically, gadgets that rely on software to create flexible platforms that can grow with their users and integrate with smartphones. But it’s worth keeping in mind that this approach doesn’t guarantee open connected systems; proprietary walled gardens are all the rage among today’s tech giants.

One of iOS 8’s touted features is HomeKit, which promises to unify home automation devices and allow them to be controlled by Siri. However, it wasn’t until this year’s Consumer Electronics Show that we got a glimpse of what manufacturers are working on, and so far it’s not pretty. The Verge reports that a number of devices they saw at CES were unstable, and that representatives said that Apple still has a lot of work to do. One fascinating tidbit: the Apple TV will serve as a bridge for HomeKit, enabling you to control your home with Siri while on the road.

Philip Michaels, writing for Six Colors, has penned a hilarious guide to CES 2015, summarizing everything you need to look out for. According to Michaels, we can expect Sony to publicly apologize to North Korea, Tim Cook to hold an incognito press conference outside a strip club, and actor Michael Chiklis (the Thing in recent Fantastic Four movies) to make awkward Internet of Things jokes. Of course, there will also be the usual assortment of lust-inducing products that will never see the light of day.

Attorney, author, and podcaster David Sparks has given up on Apple’s new Family Sharing feature. Sparks outlines several reasons for the decision, including the fact that in-app purchases and iTunes Match are not included in Family Sharing, some apps refused to update, and his family experienced disappearing playlists while Family Sharing was enabled.

On a recent MacVoices interview with Chuck Joiner, Adam and Tonya Engst engaged in a far-ranging conversation about how tech journalism has changed over the last year, how Take Control Books is evolving, and why you won’t always see the latest breaking news appearing on TidBITS (hint: we only want your eyeballs when there’s something worthwhile for them to look at).

If you feel a deep connection to the Elven smiths of lost Gondolin, or if you just want a magic glowing sword (and who doesn’t?), Spark IO has just the project for you: a sword that glows blue when it detects an unsecured Wi-Fi network. The do-it-yourself project requires a plastic replica of Bilbo’s sword from “The Hobbit”, an inexpensive Spark Core Wi-Fi development kit, and two AA batteries. When assembled, your Sting will detect nearby open Wi-Fi networks, glow blue, and publish a message on the network. Not guaranteed to kill Mirkwood spiders.

Despite notable visual changes throughout the past few versions of OS X, the Get Info window hasn’t evolved significantly in years. Design firm Ramotion has mocked up an alternative approach for the Get Info window that emphasizes the information that the user probably wants to see. It’s both more attractive and more functional, and Apple would do well to take note. And as Khoi Vinh of Subtraction.com has noted, the Fonts and Colors palettes are even more in need of redesign.

Russia’s economy is in a tailspin due to falling oil prices, and the resulting fluctuations in the ruble have caused Apple to halt online sales there. Apple had already increased the Russian price of the iPhone 6 by 25 percent due to the ruble’s plummet. Apple’s online store is its primary means of selling to customers in Russia, since the company has no physical stores in the country.

For Take Control authors, it’s inevitable, but always fun, to finish a book and then get to spend an hour discussing it with Chuck Joiner of MacVoices. Michael Cohen’s most recent chat with him was no exception, as they discussed the book, how it came to be, and why Apple made Pages into the three-platform app that it is today.